


New Clothes

by kingburu



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Awkward Romance, Clothes Shopping, First Date, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:54:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24527965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingburu/pseuds/kingburu
Summary: “Big brother,” Hazel starts, and her eyebrows furrow together. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…you kind of dress like a hobo.”Silence.Jason chokes on his powerade, hears Percy cough on his pizza, and the entire table just stares at Nico.Nico frowns at his sister. “What do you mean?”Hazel sighs. “How long have you had that shirt?”Her brother inspects his skeleton-patterned shirt and shrugs. “Two years.”“Do you have any other shirts?”“Another, so I can wash this one.”--Alternatively: Jason takes Nico to buy new clothes. According to Percy, that's totally a date.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Jason Grace
Comments: 9
Kudos: 268





	New Clothes

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt from 2014 by [sadgaywerewolf](http://sadgaywerewolf.tumblr.com) involving awkward crush!Jason and Jason going shopping with Nico to buy new clothes.

“I’m not wearing the orange shirt,” Nico declares with deadpan.

Jason swallows the last bits of his cheeseburger, blinks, and stares at Nico in surprise. “But it’s the camp shirt.”

“It’s bright. _Too bright._ ” Nico’s face scrunches up and he rolls a baby tomato on his plate with a fork.

They’re sitting at Zeus’s table in the Dining Pavilion, Nico eating with Jason just as he promised. Since Bellona isn’t a Greek goddess, Reyna chooses to sit on Nico’s right, while Hazel sits on his left. Percy, who wished to join the festivities, charged his way to Jason’s side, taking Annabeth with him, who took Piper, who took Leo.

(Frank joins in later, only to get away from Clarisse and their 74th arm wrestling contest of the morning at Ares’s table.)

“Would you rather have purple?” Reyna muses from one side.

“At least it’s not as obnoxiously bright as orange. Bad camouflage.” Nico wrinkles his nose.

Percy puts down his blue slice of pizza and frowns. “I resent that.”

“Nico’s got a point. Bad camo.” Jason shrugs and then frowns. “But you’re not getting into the spirit of _camp festivities_ , man."

Reyna cracks a sly smile. “You could always wear the—”

“I told you not to mention that again.” Nico cuts her off, glares at her sharply, and Reyna only grins wider. “Never again.”

Jason wants to ask what they’re talking about—Nico and Reyna are generally quiet people, but they bounce off of each other so well like brother and sister. His lips quirk into a smile.

“Big brother,” Hazel starts, and her eyebrows furrow together. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…you kind of dress like a hobo.”

Silence.

Jason chokes on his powerade, hears Percy cough on his pizza, and the entire table just _stares_ at Nico.

Nico frowns at his sister. “What do you mean?”

Hazel sighs. “How long have you had that shirt?”

Her brother inspects his skeleton-patterned shirt and shrugs. “Two years.”

“Do you have any other shirts?”

“Another, so I can wash this one.”

“Is that it?” Percy gapes. His eyebrows furrow together.

“Is there a problem with that?” Nico’s gaze narrows irately.

“You shot up, like, eight centimeters after the war since you’ve been eating healthier.” Frank shrugs, inspecting Nico for himself.

“What’s that in normal measurements?” Percy asks.

Frank rolls his eyes. “You know, when you rejoin the Legion—”

“Three inches,” Hazel informs.

“You look better,” Reyna assures, steering the conversation back to Nico, “but your clothes…” She trails off.

Nico looks doubtful of their sentiments, so Jason tries to translate.

“It’s not that you look _bad_ or anything,” he starts. Jason wants to reach over and swing an arm around Nico, but touching is off limits and he respects that about Nico. “But the other day you stretched and it was showing off your belly button and that whole stomach area.”

More silence.

Everyone stares at Jason like he’s grown a second head— _especially_ Nico, and Jason can’t hide his flushed face behind his glasses—because _yes_ Jason, let’s tell all your friends that you were _checking Nico out_.

“I can lend you some of my clothes if you want,” Percy offers.

“No,” Nico responds automatically, and Percy pouts.

“What’s wrong with _my_ clothes?”

“You’re too big, bro. Which puts Frank and me out of the running, too.” Jason pats Percy on the back sympathetically, and Nico rolls his eyes.

“What,” Percy starts, “you don’t think I could bench more than you?”

Whoa there. Jason arches an eyebrow. “I think I can do that with one hand.”

“Yeah—good luck doing that without your glasses falling off every five seconds.”

“At least I wouldn’t manage to _piss off_ the weights.”

“Yeah, getting knocked in the head by _bricks_ is more your speed.”

“You wanna go, Jackson?”

“Yeah, I could lift this table _right now—”_

“Jason can take you shopping in the morning,” Hazel cuts in—and Jason blinks. Nico seems okay with that.

“Why me?” Jason asks.

“Just because.” Reyna shrug.

“What she really means is—either you go, or Nico will be wearing blue for the next month.” Piper grins while Percy rolls his eyes, and she and Annabeth fistbump.

“I’ll have you know that my mom says I look _very good_ in blue,” Percy retorts.

“Too bad she didn’t teach you the metric system,” Frank grumbles.

“Hey!”

“Jason,” Nico starts, “don’t question it.”

“Yeah, buddy—” Leo slaps a hand on Jason’s back rather harshly. “You two just enjoy your date tomorrow.”

At that comment, Jason feels his entire face flush red. “It’s not a date.”

Nico echoes his sentiment.

*

The next morning, Hazel hands Jason a fifty. When Jason asks, she shrugs and points out, _“Child of Riches._ ”

Jason, however, still has money in his account from his time in the Legion. He may not’ve held down a job in New Rome, but they paid you a weekly allowance for your services.

It’s especially chilly on this autumn day, so Jason doubles up with a long sleeved shirt and a fleece jacket.

He strolls toward Hades Cabin, knocks on the door, and Nico greets him.

“Hey.” Nico wears another black shirt—a loose v-neck that Jason’s pretty sure Reyna bought for him. His face twists as he meets the cold air, and Jason laughs airily.

“You cold?” he asks.

Nico glares at him, deadpanned, before admitting, “A little.”

“Here.” Jason pulls off his jacket and hands it to Nico. “We can grab hot cocoa at the Dining Pavilion on our way out.”

He starts the way toward the mess hall—but catches Nico just _staring_ at him.

“Yeah, Nico?”

“Nothing.” Nico keeps Jason’s jacket between his hands. Part of Jason sets into panic, and he thinks, _oh, this is too personal, isn’t it?_ with a bit of disappointment—but then Nico throws it over his head, looking awfully small as the top bunches up at his shoulders and the sleeves dangle past his hands.

Jason doesn’t get to ogle those sleeves too long—Nico promptly shoves them in the fleece pockets and seems content.

“Hot cocoa sounds good,” Nico assures. His eyebrows furrow. “Won’t you get cold?”

“Nah. I’ve got a little more meat on my bones.” Jason ducks his head, pushes up his glasses, and smiles bashfully.

“Okay.” Nico frowns at the answer, but says nothing else. He bats a hand through his hair, attaches himself to Jason’s side, and nods his head toward the mess hall. “C’mon.”

And all the while, Jason can’t help thinking: _Man, Nico looks **killer.**_

****

*

Nico isn’t a picky shopper. Jason lets Nico do all of the work, since they apparently dress on opposite color palettes. A lot of black is added to Nico’s wardrobe—one dark gray shirt in particular has a discombobulated skeleton on it, and Jason knows Nico wants to wear it as soon as he can.

They also stock up on pants—Nico’s worn holes in the three pairs that he owns already, so he needs some that will last him.

From the corner of his eye, Jason spots a plaid button up. His feet work before his mind does and Jason retrieves it.

“Where’d you go?” Nico looks up curiously.

“I got you this.” Jason checks the tag once more to make sure it’s Nico’s size. He holds his head high as he shows it off.

“I don’t wear stuff like that.” Nico frowns. He doesn’t look _disgusted_ by it. Just confused.

“It’d look good on you,” Jason promises. “Plus, it’s black.”

Nico rolls his eyes. “Do you think that’s my only criteria?”

“You shut down the last shirt I gave you because it was too bright.”

“It was _neon green._ ” Nico takes Jason’s latest pick and inspects the shirt for himself. “Really, _Grace_ , how do you dress yourself in the morning?”

“Purple and orange t-shirts. Not much in between.” Jason shrugs before going on a tangent. “My sponsor liked to dress me up a lot when I was growing up though. She saw a three-year-old wearing the same _Camp Jupiter_ onesie six days in a row might be concerning.”

“I hope you were potty trained.”

“I was.” Once they taught him that peeing in bushes was a no-no. Jason decides to omit that part of the story, smiles, and ushers Nico towards a dressing room.

Nico looks hesitant.

“You really don’t want to wear it?” Jason’s face falls.

“No, I…just…” Nico is reluctant. His hand clutches the hanger tightly. He sucks in a deep breath and reluctantly looks through his hair towards Jason. “Thank you for doing this with me.”

Jason feels his heart flip. He tries to look cool, leaning against one of the dressing room walls, but ends up stumbling. “Yeah, that’s—that’s—it’s no problem, man.”

He coughs to keep his voice at a steady octave.

Nico rolls his eyes and shuts the door.

When he comes out, Jason feels his ears heat up. Nico’s always been skinny—there’s no question on that. But since he’s been eating properly, his body has gotten lankier—less bony.

His shoulders are still sharp and angular, but his cheekbones make his face more defined, the sleeves accentuating the slender muscle in his arms. Nico’s new jeans make him look sleek—and Jason is convinced that he’s more smitten with Nico di Angelo than five minutes ago.

“Do I look okay?” Nico asks. He starts rolling up the sleeves, meaning Nico must know how most people wear that shirt.

_Percy_ wears shirts like that—so Jason has to keep from getting jealous because Nico probably _noticed_ Percy wears a lot of shirts like that.

“You look good,” Jason assures. And _boy_ , does Nico look good. “Are you gonna get it?”

“I guess.” Nico wrinkles his nose. He walks to a mirror, inspects himself, and wrinkles his nose. “It’s missing something.”

“I’m a sweater guy myself. I could lend you one, if you like.” Jason arches an eyebrow—seeing Nico di Angelo worry about his wardrobe is a sight Jason never thought he’d like so much.

(And maybe Nico’s right—Jason’s wardrobe is mostly orange and purple—he should really expand it.)

Nico looks over to him, confused.

And Jason catches himself. _Wow._ He covers his eyes. “That…sounded very boyfriend-girlfriend-y, didn’t it?”

“I’m not your girlfriend,” Nico points out. “But I’ll buy the shirt.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

Jason peeks through his fingers. Realizes Nico doesn’t look particularly angry. He’s smirking, actually.

*

When they leave the last store, Nico puts Jason’s jacket on. Jason doesn’t realize he’s staring until Nico offers him a pointed look. “Yes?”

“What—? Oh.” Jason nearly runs into a lamppost.

“Your jacket.” Nico speculates after Jason is— _was_ —staring at immediately. He tugs at the end of the jacket, his other hand still resting dutifully in one of the pockets. “Do you want it back?”

“No! No—it looks good on you.” Jason notices the longer that they’re on this subject, the more that he sputters, and then he’s compelled to fix the collar of the jacket, and gods—now he’s doing it, and—“Sorry.”

“I suppose I can make this an exception,” Nico grumbles—and if Jason wasn’t so flustered and embarrassed, he’d probably notice Nico’s cheeks are a little pink, too. Nico plucks Jason’s lingering hand off his person.

“Hey!”

Jason notices that Nico’s face immediately scrunches at the sound of Percy’s voice.

They both turn, Jason’s hand unintentionally squeezing Nico’s hand tightly, and they’re met by the sight of both Frank and Percy.

“Hey,” Jason greets them. “Where are the girls? And Leo?”

Percy’s demeanor immediately contorts into something mischievous, and Jason’s left wondering how Percy isn’t a Son of Hermes. “Something about ‘Seaweed Brain,’ and, ‘don’t be an idiot.’”

Nico and Jason turn to Frank, who facepalms.

“He bought you a shirt,” Frank supplies helpfully.

“A shirt,” Nico repeats.

“It’s bedazzled,” Percy supplies. “That way Hazel can sense you wherever you go. Rhinestones and all.”

Huh. “You have to admit that’s genius,” Jason says.

“In an insane little way.” Nico’s eyebrows mesh together and he peeks into the bag.

Jason feels a pang of envy, but reminds himself that Nico walked out of the store wearing the shirt that _he_ chose out.

“So you two _are_ on a date.” It’s Frank, actually, who points it out. He doesn’t say it in Percy’s obnoxious way—but he sounds a little confused.

“I beg your pardon?” One of Nico’s eyebrows darts into the air.

“You’re…holding hands, and you’re wearing his jacket.” Frank clears his throat, gestures to both of them, and glows pink from embarrassment. “Aren’t you?”

Muttering an apology, Jason opts to pull away—only to be surprised when Nico squeezes back firmly.

“Thank you,” Nico says tightly, his toleration of Percy’s tomfoolery clearly declining. “This is nice, Percy.”

“And we’re not on a date,” Jason feels the need to say. He blinks when Nico shoots him a look—then flinches when he realizes Frank and Percy are staring at him peculiarly. “What?”

“I suppose what Jason’s been dragging Nico into is Nico’s _type_ ,” Percy says, “of fun.”

Nico looks close to punching him.

Jason tugs Nico close to calm him down.

“You two going to any other stores?” Frank asks to steer the conversation away from something violent. He smiles at them nervously.

“Do you want to come?” _Please say no_ , Jason can’t help thinking.

“Pass.” Percy waves his hand dismissively and loops an arm around Frank. “Thanks for the invite though. Keep the shirt, yeah, Nico?”

“Whatever would I do without it?” Nico grimaces at the bag like it’s three-week old dirty underwear, but takes it anyway since it’s a gift from Percy.

“Bye. We’ll see you before we leave tonight, dude.” Frank tips his head politely towards Nico and the old praetor, and Percy and he depart.

“You’re…not really gonna wear that, are you?” Jason asks reluctantly. He catches a glimpse of neon blue.

“Please. Me in this?” Nico snorts. “Cerberus is getting an early birthday gift.”

*

When the clock strikes 2PM, Nico and Jason decide to go into one last store. Jason hasn’t done this much shopping in his life—and thinks he’s done for the next millennia. He buys a few v-necks upon Nico’s insistence to stray away from the “ugly orange” and “hideous purple” and Nico decides to buy two pairs of shoes since his feet are getting tired of being crammed in a pair of Converse that are two sizes too small.

Jason’s finished up paying for his own things when he goes to the lower level in search for Nico. He finds Nico staring at a coat rack—

—at new aviator’s jackets.

He hesitates before waltzing up behind Nico.

“Hi,” Nico says without turning around. His tone is distant, attention clearly glued to the jacket.

It’s a lovely shade of brown, made of fine leather that puts the old one to shame. This one is crisp looking, while Nico’s old one looked like it’d been through three wars.

“You thinking of buying it?” Jason asks awkwardly. Thinking about it now, he realizes how cute Nico looked in a jacket that was three sizes too big for him. With the new growth spurt, Nico would probably fit it better.

To his surprise, Nico shakes his head. “No. This is too…commercialized.”

Jason inspects the tag for himself and wrinkles his nose. Nearly two hundred dollars for a brand name he can barely pronounce. “I—I could get it for you, if you want.”

Nico shoots him an incredulous look, one eyebrow darted in the air.

“I have the money for it. We could look for one that _looks_ like a real bomber’s jacket.” Jason shrugs, but knows that’s probably not the answer Nico is looking for.

“You don’t have to spend the money on me.” Nico shakes his head, his cheeks a little red.

“I don’t mind,” Jason says sincerely. “You loved that jacket, didn’t you?”

He realizes he might be crossing a line here. Nico and he are on friendly terms—more so, sometimes, like when they held hands earlier—but that doesn’t make them any less private people. Jason knows he has no trouble sitting there and spilling his life out to Nico, but that doesn’t mean the sentiment is mutual.

“A lot of my siblings were on the losing side of World War II,” Nico explains. “But there were a few who were on the winning side. I mean—death is _death._ That doesn’t make the winning side any less evil for slaughtering the same amount of people. I summoned some of my siblings so I could find out what it really meant to be a Son of Hades back when I was on my own.”

“And?” Jason asks softly.

“And one of them did a lot of _good_ during the war.” Nico’s eyebrows knit together. He slides his hands into the pockets of his jacket— _Jason’s_ jacket—and shrugs. “He was on the winning side, but that’s not what made him a hero. His _actions_ brought him to Elysium. Not what side he was on.”

“Like that boy. Luke.” Jason’s eyebrows furrow together. “He died wanting to save Olympus.”

“Or Octavian.” Nico’s demeanor shrivels—and Jason knows that it’s a touchy subject. “He sought revenge before death. Not peace.”

“I see.” Jason stares at the jacket hanging in front of him. He understands why Nico was attached to it in the first place. “You’ve done a lot of good, too, you know.”

Nico’s lips curl into a quiet, uncertain smile. “Thanks. And thank you, for listening to me.”

“Always.”

“For the record,” Nico starts carefully. He curls his hands into fists beneath the jacket, gaze parting carefully. “I’m comfortable in _this_ jacket. It’s very…you.”

Jason doesn’t know what that’s supposed to mean, but it makes him smile anyway. “Then—I—I look good on you.”

Nico rolls his eyes. He’s blushing.

It makes Jason blush, too.

Clearing his throat, Jason stumbles backwards to create a bit of distance between them. He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “You…wanna get something to eat? I’ll buy.”

“Doesn’t…that make this a date?” Nico arches an eyebrow and he frowns.

“If you want it to be.” Jason clears his throat to keep his voice from cracking, but knows that it cracks anyway. “I mean—if _you_ want to buy, I wouldn’t be opposed—or we don’t have to grab food. We can go back to camp, or—”

“Jason.” Nico cuts him off and places a hand on Jason’s arm. “I’d love to.”

“Really?” Jason’s gaze whirs back so fast to Nico that his glasses nearly drop off his face.

Fortunately Nico has enough sense for the both of them and pushes Jason’s glasses back to their proper place. The corner of his lip curls into a smirk, the madman glint in his eyes obvious, and Jason’s heart skips a beat. “Yes.”

“Date or no date?”

Nico shrugs. The hand resting on Jason’s bicep shyly slides down Jason’s arm until their fingers are interlocked. He looks away, cheeks clearly red, and shrugs. “Show me a good time and I’ll tell you what it is.”

*

They’re still holding hands when they make it to Camp Halfblood later that night.

In Jason’s defense, Nico needs to be _touching_ him so that they shadowtravel back safely—but he doubts that excuse suffices since they’ve been touching off-and-on since agreeing on their not-date date.

_And_ , Jason thinks dizzily, Nico is _touching_ him.

It’s a privilege not many get unless you’re Hazel, Reyna, Frank—who hesitates before doing so, or Percy—who doesn’t really understand personal boundaries to begin with.

They stand in front of Zeus’s Cabin, still holding hands, and Jason really doesn’t want to let go.

“Um,” Jason says, “thanks for the not-date date.”

“You paid for everything,” Nico points out. His face twists, and he looks like he regrets what he just said. “I should be the one saying thank you.”

“Thanks anyway.” Jason moves to put his hands in his pockets, and realizes Nico is still wearing his jacket. He doesn’t intend on asking for it back soon. “Um, I’ll see you around camp?”

“Yeah.” Nico stares at his toes. “Um.”

“Yeah?” Jason holds his breath.

“Do you…want to have another not-date?” Nico shuts his eyes, breathes in heavily, and looks back to Jason with reluctance. “A…”

“Real date?” The corner of Jason’s lips quirks into a smile—and immediately he’s grinning from cheek-to-cheek.

“Yeah.” Nico’s eyebrows furrow together. “Is that okay?”

“That’s—that’s totally okay.” Jason squeezes Nico’s hand softly. “I’ll see you Friday?”

“Yeah.” Nico looks relieved—like it took all of his will to get the question out. But now he’s smiling, and that just makes Jason smile even more. Nico stands to the tips of his toes and presses a kiss to Jason’s cheek. “Friday.”

Jason can’t wait.

He’s still on cloud nine when he enters his cabin. Nico is assisting Hazel tonight to transport Romans back to Camp Jupiter—so it’ll be three whole days before Jason sees Nico again.

When he turns on the lights, he finds Percy sitting on his bed.

“Uh…” Jason blinks. “Dude?”

“How’d it go?” Percy asks. He’s in the middle of desecrating Jason’s bed with a bowl full of popcorn.

“What?”

Percy rolls his eyes. “You _do_ realize this whole thing was a ploy to get you and Nico together, right?”

_“What?”_ Jason flushes red, gapes at Percy, and tries to process what was just said. “But how could you—when did you—you don’t even know if I _like_ him!”

“So!” Percy elects to ignore him. “How’d it go?”


End file.
